Oron Shaul laid to rest after body held in Gaza for over 10 years

Sergeant Oron Shaul, whose body was retrieved on Sunday from the Gaza Strip in an operation, was laid to rest on Monday at the Poria Illit cemetery. Shaul, a soldier from the Givati Brigade, fell in Operation Protective Edge, the Israel-Gaza war of 2014, in an attack on an armored personnel carrier Shuja'iyya that took place on July 20, 2014.

President Isaac Herzog attended the funeral and eulogized him as "an outstanding soldier, a brilliant young man with a soul of an artist. A values-driven boy imbued with the spirit of mutual responsibility - I address you on behalf of the entire people of Israel and ask for forgiveness."

Herzog spoke about the moment he heard about his death. "I will never forget the moment I heard that the enemy reported on television that a soldier named Oron was in their hands," he said. "From that moment, I never stopped thinking about him. He wrote about Gilad Shalit, that the state does not abandon [its soldiers] and should not leave any abductee behind. Today, the state returned him and brought him back home in a courageous operation."

"Since that whole day, the whole nation longed to bring Oron back," Herzog continued, "looking at dear Zehava [his mother], and your struggle to bring Oron back. At this moment, I appeal to you on behalf of the entire country and ask for forgiveness. Sorry for the years you all spent waiting for a son to come. Years that we failed to accomplish the task of bringing him back here."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Zehava, who thanked him and said: "You promised to bring him back - and you did."

"Just as we were committed to bring Oron, may his memory be a blessing, back to burial," Netanyahu said, "just as we have so far returned most of our abductees from Hamas captives - so we will also return Hadar Goldin of blessed memory, and all our abductees home, and achieve all the goals of the war in Gaza."